30+ Awesome Artworks You Won’t Believe Were Once Dusty Old Books on a Shelf

It may be wrong to judge a book by its cover, but many artists believe that books actually are more than mere reading material. In this comprehensive collection of art made from books, we explore the myriad of ways that bibliophilic artists inventively transform works of literature into works of art.

Some artists, such as Claire Brewster and Loui Jover, cleverly transform individual pages into intricate cut-outs or creative canvases. Others, like Long-bin Chen, Maskull Lasserre, and Thomas Wightman, utilize entire books to create intricately carved sculptures. And many, including Anouk Kruithof and Jan Reymond employ numerous books for large-scale literary installations. Whether pocket-sized or larger than life, each work of book art showcases the aesthetic capabilities of a good book.